Maggie hissed and spat magma into the kalvex’s eyes, even as Levi stepped into its attack and slashed upward with his blades. Destructive Slash sliced deep, but not deep enough to slow its charge. It drove itself onto the blade up to the hilt and kept going, bowling Levi over and trampling him almost incidentally.

Levi’s stamina bottomed out and his health dropped fast as it struggled to keep up with the rapidly inflicted impacts. He didn’t have enough to survive another hit like that.

The kalvex gathered itself and jumped for the helpless Gordon. Thankfully, Gordon wasn’t hanging from a rope, but a very powerful and flexible magma serpent. Maggie flexed and swayed, shifting her body out of the way with deceptive ease. Instead of driving its horns into a vulnerable human, the kalvex slammed headfirst into the wall at the dead end of the tunnel with a stone-splintering crack.

Levi picked himself up out of the ankle-deep corrosive. He was moving sluggishly, his body still not able to keep up with him without stamina to boost it, but still had time to take quick stock of the situation before the kalvex could reorient itself.

Level 1++

(Spined Kalvex)

Health 47%

Shadevine still valiantly clung to the kalvex’s back, but there wasn’t much they could do at this point. If even a full power Destructive Slash delivered to its chest with the full force of its charge could only do so small a damage amount, they had no hope of bringing it down to taming range. Even just killing it seemed impossible at this point. He’d be happy to escape without further casualties.

A dozen retorts rang out in quick succession as Gordon, though still swaying unsteadily in Maggie’s coils, tried his best to prove Levi’s predictions wrong. Three of his shots went wide, pinging off the walls and sending shards of stone flying, but the rest hit the kalvex. They didn’t do as much damage as the direct shots from before, many barely grazing it, but Levi was proud to see how much effort Gordon was willing to put in.

It was easy to think of him as a background support, someone there to fire off an occasional dismay but who otherwise avoided the action and stood around watching instead of participating. As it turned out, he just needed to find the right way of participating. He could see why Gordon’s initial preference had been Ranger.

Level 1++

(Spined Kalvex)

Health 43%

Still, without mana in the bullets, they only did so much. Weaker mana beings were somewhat susceptible to physical attacks, their structure insufficiently flexible or stable to shrug them off the way more powerful creatures could, but while his gun might be enough to clear a dungeon full of gremlins without difficulty, the kalvex was something else entirely.

The number of shots Gordon had pumped into it would have been enough to stop any earth predator, yet the kalvex kept coming. It had no sense of self preservation, no fear, no weakness. It would keep coming until they were dead, or it was.

And Levi had no doubts about that outcome. If he could get the rest of the team down here, it would be a different story, but as they were they had no chance. They'd taken too much damage and too many losses already, while the kalvex still had over a third of its health.

“I’ll meet you outside. Don’t wait for me! Close the trapdoor and go.” With one last quick glance to verify that Maggie and Drok had Gordon’s safety well in hand - or in coil, with Maggie - he downed a stamina restorative and took off running down the hall.

The kalvex made one final swipe at Gordon, but they’d almost reached the top by now and it missed completely. It snorted, seeing its intended victim escaping, then shifted targets.

Levi heard its paws splashing and thudding as it closed in on him at a horrifyingly fast pace. His lungs struggled to keep up without the artificial boost of system stamina, but he ignored the discomfort and pushed himself even harder, sprinting for the branching of the tunnel. That sharp curve was his only defence right now. He knew full well how hard that thing could hit. While he might survive a glancing blow, another full charge like that would be the end.

He reached the corner and stabbed his sword into the wall, using Beast Bite to anchor himself and swing around the curve at top speed, disengaging the sword and continuing on down toward the deeper pool without slowing. The kalvex slammed into the wall at the end of the tunnel, then came splashing after him a second later.

As he pushed through the now chest-deep corrosive Levi passed another alcove going off down to the left, a low cave that he would have to crouch over to enter, likely the kalvex’s actual lair and where its treasure hid. He couldn't afford to slow down to investigate. He could hear the kalvex's splashing close behind him as he reached the next corner. Far too close. Any second its jaws could close on him or its horns skewer him.

Some minute sound triggered his instincts and he dove to the side, surging his single recently-regenerated stamina point to flatten himself against the wall in a rush of incredible speed.

It wasn't enough. The kalvex tossed its head as it charged past, one horn dipping to slice across his stomach and arm, tearing through his armor like it was cardboard and plunging Levi's health into the single digits. Corrosive eagerly flowed into the wounds, burning lines of fire where the horn had torn into him, his last remaining health points dropping by the second.

But he saw what he’d been after, just past the kalvex: the exit portal. A narrow doorway blocked access immediately before the portal, preventing the kalvex itself from escaping the dungeon.

There was no time for planning or delaying. He had to get out of the corrosive and away from this place, now.

Levi jumped, stabbing with the shortsword as high up on the wall as he could. Beast Bite clamped down deep into the stone, and he grunted as his arm took the full weight of his body. A point of stamina regenerated and he burned it immediately, pulling himself up in an acrobatic flip that would make gymnasts envious, landing in a crouch atop the anchored blade.

The kalvex whirled on him, and he wasn't close to high enough to be out of its reach. Instead he took only a moment to orient himself, then pushed off from the wall like he was diving into a pool, aiming himself straight at the narrow doorway and the portal beyond.

The kalvex reared up, but Levi slammed his Destruction sword down into its snout as he passed, causing it to flinch just enough that he slipped by unscathed. Then he was past.

Levi tumbled headfirst out into the treasure room at the dungeon's end, rolling to a stop against the empty stone slab at the room's center. It took him a moment to get his bearings. It was as though he’d stepped into the dungeon through the one-way final exit portal. Which raised all kinds of questions of its own about how portals worked, but at the moment he only cared that he was alive.

For a long moment he lay there, his breathing gradually calming, his racing heartbeat taking its sweet time in slowing, and his stamina steadily refilling.

Then he got to his feet, glancing back once at the still-empty boss room.

He wanted that kalvex. Unfortunately, right now it was clearly outside their weight class. He'd be back, once he was sure he could capture it safely and not a minute before.

Leaving the hidden boss for another day, Levi stepped through the portal back into the outside world.